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Predators end shootout drought, defeat Flyers

Friday, 01.17.2014 / 12:29 AM

Roman Josi's goal in the seventh round of the shootout gave the Predators a 4-3 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, their first win in seven tiebreakers this season.

Josi, a Swiss defenseman who was 0-for-1 in shootouts, wristed a shot under goaltender Steve Mason for the win. His goal came after rookie Carter Hutton stopped Wayne Simmonds to start the seventh round.

Nashville also got shootout goals by Matt Cullen and Ryan Ellis in the fifth and sixth rounds after Philadelphia's Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier had scored. The Predators came into the game 0-6 in shootouts, with one goal in 19 attempts. One of the losses came to the Flyers in Nashville on Nov. 30.

"It was nice to be able to finish it off in a shootout after not being able to do that before," said Nashville captain Shea Weber.

Hutton made 27 saves through 65 minutes for Nashville (21-21-7), which also got goals from Eric Nystrom and David Legwand. It was the Predators' first game since acquiring goaltender Devan Dubnyk from the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday. Dubnyk dressed for the game and served as Hutton's backup.

Philadelphia defenseman Andrej Meszaros scored his second goal of the season and set up a goal by Schenn before Simmonds tied the game with 1:24 left in regulation. Mason stopped 34 shots for the Flyers (24-19-5), who have lost three of four and dropped back-to-back home games after winning 10 in a row at Wells Fargo Center.

"We moved our feet, made the right plays and played the way we wanted to play," Flyers captain Claude Giroux said. "We had our chances. We played well and were able to tie it up at the end there. They just did a good job in finding a way to get the two points."

Weber scored 5:10 into the third period to give the Predators a 3-2 lead. He set up at the right point, stepped into a pass from Legwand, and blasted it through a screen past Mason for his 12th of the season. The goal came with Flyers defenseman Nicklas Grossmann serving a double minor for high-sticking Patrik Hornqvist.

The Flyers forced overtime when Kimmo Timonen's blast hit Simmonds in front of the net and caromed past Hutton for a power-play goal. It came a few seconds after the Flyers pulled Mason to give them a 6-on-4 skating advantage.

Matt Read nearly won the game 3:26 into overtime when his shot from the right circle hit the right post, caromed off Hutton and trickled toward the goal line before the Nashville goalie was able to cover the puck.

The Flyers got off to a fast start when Schenn scored his 13th of the season 1:26 into the game. Meszaros worked his way around two Nashville defenders before dishing the puck to Simmonds, whose pass from the right circle found Schenn all alone at the left post for a tap-in.

Nystrom tied it at 10:57 with his seventh of the season. Gabriel Bourque did a spin along the right half-wall and flung the puck at the net; it hit Nystrom's stick and caromed past Mason.

The Flyers got into penalty trouble late in the period when Giroux was called for tripping at 14:30 and Timonen went off for boarding 42 seconds later. Philadelphia killed the 5-on-3, but before Giroux could get back into the play, Mike Fisher found Legwand with a left-to-right pass for a one-timer from deep in the circle into a wide-open net for his eighth of the season and a 2-1 lead.

"They had a couple of cycle shifts and then we took some penalties and they scored," Flyers coach Craig Berube said. "I thought the same thing happened in the second period; they had the puck too much and it kind of sucked the life out of us.

Hutton preserved the lead 7:08 into the second period with a tremendous diving save on Michael Raffl, who appeared to have an open net. Hutton went behind the net to play Giroux's dump-in, which hit a stanchion and caromed in front, but he got back to his crease in time to take away what looked like a sure goal.

"That was sick," Josi said. "That's going to be on the highlight reel for a long time. He was more like a soccer goalie on that save."

Nashville dominated most of the second period, outshooting the Flyers 14-8, but Philadelphia took advantage of a defensive lapse by the Predators to tie the game with 3.6 seconds remaining. Mark Streit sent Simmonds racing up the left side into the Nashville zone; Simmonds pulled up and found Meszaros coming late, and his wrister from the left circle went over Hutton's shoulder to tie the game.

NHL and the NHL Shield are registered trademarks and NHL Mobile name and logo, NHL GameCenter and Unlimited NHL are trademarks of the National Hockey League. NHL and NHL team marks are the property of the NHL and its teams.